Tag: Christianity

“Obedience to My desires brings My presence in what I call you to do. Delighting to be obedient brings My heart. I value the difference between compliance out of duty and an excitement to see My will go forth. One accomplishes much; the other is why Jesus spent His life.

"It’s time for you to reexamine why you do what you are doing. My goal is that We walk together with the same heart. What is your purpose for waking and working? Why do you call upon Me in prayer? Turn aside from the elementary teachings of your youth. Long for My heart. Spend enough time with Me to know it. Crave to own it!”

Psalm 51:10 AMP

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering and steadfast spirit within me.

Isaiah 43:21 NIV

-the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.

Amos 3:3 KJV 

Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

Matt. 25:1-12 NIV

1. “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

2) Five of them were foolish and five were wise.

3) The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them.

4) The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.

5) The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

6) At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

7) Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps.

8) The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’

9) ‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

10) But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

11) Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’

12) But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’”

 

God is always after our hearts. So many of us walk in compliance, thinking that we are pleasing God. The Sadducees and the Pharisees became arrogant because of their self-righteousness. They fulfilled the law but lost the heart of God. In the same way, most of us do the right things, but miss God’s heart while doing them. It’s time to grow up for the good of our God and the reputation of Jesus.

I want to love Your ways, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Are you willing to give up all you ever hoped for in life for the sake of My call on your life? What about your dreams or your reputation? Are they dead to you? The Lordship of Jesus over your life means that you no longer have rights to control any portion of your being. You have been bought with the great price of the blood of Jesus.

"As someone who calls himself a Christian under His Lordship, you can either be a bondservant or a slave. It is all determined by the position of your heart. A slave mentality is compliant to the Lordship of Jesus but fighting His desires all the way. That individual’s personal desires and motives are not under the work of the cross. A bondservant delights in His wishes and willingly gives away everything for His will.

"Which are you? Which do you believe is My will for you? Which is the heart of the waiting bride?”

Matt. 7:21-23 NIV

21) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

22) Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’

23) Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

Matthew 16:24-25 AMP

24) Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone desires to be My disciple, let him deny himself [disregard, lose sight of, and forget himself and his own interests] and take up his cross and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying, also].

25) For whoever is bent on saving his [temporal] life [his comfort and security here] shall lose it [eternal life]; and whoever loses his life [his comfort and security here] for My sake shall find it [life everlasting].

 Galatians 2:20 AMP

I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]: it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

 

Very simply stated: Jesus lived an exuberant, passionate life because He loved deeply and knew the truth. Everything that He did had love as its foundation, its continual motivation, and its ultimate goal. Nothing, not even death, could move Him from expressing that love to and for those around Him.

Because He was One with and knew His Father intimately, He understood the truth about the fate of mankind as a result of the fall. Because He lived with His Father in all of eternity past, He knew what separation from His Father for all eternity future really meant for those He loved and created. He felt His Father’s heartbreak because some would perish.

Jesus was brought into a world so perilous that children were killed at the whimsical edict of an evil king, crucifixions were as commonplace as morning walks, and people were held in slavery to ignorant teachers and foolish guides, yet He was absolutely fearless. His passionate love, His intimacy with His Father, and His zeal for imparting truth made Him “Teflon” in a world seething with infectious evil and eternal danger. His presence in any society was a gift of love from His Father God. We are in training to be the same kind of gift to those around us wherever our Father sends us.

Jesus could be fearless because He loved perfectly. He cared only for others and desired nothing for Himself. Even though He had all power, He was under full submission to the will of His Father. In His heart, He had given away everything, so He had no fear of someone robbing Him, even of His life. He held Himself in lower esteem than everyone, even the lowly leper, so no one could destroy His reputation. Jesus’ love was so pure that He was absolutely free from any peril that the world would attempt to place on Him.

I choose to love Your will, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Focus! Go back to when you were first in love with Me. Remember the things that were important to you at that time. Remember also what was not important because you loved so deeply and cared only about those things I cared about. I could guide you with My eyes. I could tell you My heart and you would move as if We were One. You need to go back there, so that I can use you in that way again. It is important to Me, but it is also very important for you.

"If you do not turn, We will grow farther apart. You will not be able to know what is important to Me any longer and I cannot embrace the things that you deem important. That is not a good situation for you. Turn now. Repent! Time is short!”

James 4:8-10 AMP

8) Come close to God and He will come close to you. [Recognize that you are] sinners, get your soiled hands clean; [realize that you have been disloyal] wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts [of your spiritual adultery].

9) [As you draw near to God] be deeply penitent and grieve, even weep [over your disloyalty]. Let your laughter be turned to grief and your mirth to dejection and heartfelt shame [for your sins].

10) Humble yourselves [feeling very insignificant] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up and make your lives significant].”

Rev. 2:2-5 NIV

2) “I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance.  I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.

3) You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name and have not grown weary.

4) Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.

5) Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.”

 

A significant life is the life of Jesus. Jesus moved only in love, only in His Father’s wishes. As He walked among those He had created, He saw their needs and moved with compassion on their behalf. He gave His all, even for those who hated Him - especially for those who hated Him. Their need became His mission. His love became their salvation.

Take me back to first love, Lord,

Jim Corbett

“Do you know what your purpose is? I don’t mean what your personal calling might be, but do you know what the overall purpose of My church is? You have the privilege of telling the wonderful news that, in the unseen world, the impossible has been done for all men. Jesus reconciled everything between Us. Now you have been given the joyful task of telling the hurting, the discouraged, the little ones that flounder in the darkness, that all has been made right between Us.

"Without the work that Jesus did, not one of you had any hope of ever being free. Now you can be free from all the horrors in your world and free from all the eternal horrors that awaited you just after you closed your eyes for the last time.

"There is nothing to fear if you accept the work that has been done by Him. Your greatest gift besides your own freedom is the opportunity to tell everyone of this fantastic news. I want everyone to have the opportunity to hear of His wonderful accomplishment. You tell them for Me, OK? I will be with you to empower you when you do it. The angels and I will rejoice whenever someone receives this great gift. It is fun for Me. I can’t wait for you to rejoice with Me.”

II Cor. 5:18 AMP

But all things are from God, Who through Jesus Christ reconciled us to Himself [received us into favor, brought us into harmony with Himself] and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation [that by word and deed we might aim to bring others into harmony with Him].

 

Our great, great, great, etc. grandpa and grandma, Adam and Eve, generated an incredible black hole in the spiritual realm when they defied God. Their seemingly harmless act of rebellion, (the same act that each of us has the choice to wallow in each and every day, by the way) did far more than expose the first apple core (if indeed it was an apple.) It created an impasse between the holy and the newly profane. God could not legally go where His children were and they could not legally go where He was. Two beings once capable of intimate interaction were now as different as darkness and light.

Enter Jesus. Far more than hanging on a cross, He once more bonded Creator and creation and made them inseparable. He destroyed everything that once separated us from God. (You can jump for joy right here if you want.)

I remember once, when my older daughter was a teen, Satan had created a separation between us for several months. Those months were the most agonizing months that both of us ever spent. Nothing could console me. There was nothing that I wouldn’t have done to be able to bridge the gap between us. There was no solace for me; nothing mattered except reconciliation. I’m sure she would have felt the same if she could have. I was a daddy who was hurting, and she was a child hurting equally as much.

One day there was complete restoration of our relationship. God said that the gap had been there long enough and moved on our behalf. It was one of the happiest days of our lives. The healed relationship was so complete that we returned to being best friends.

Remembering my pain as a human father, I believe that our Father in heaven must ache so much more for every one of His children who can’t experience His love. We need to tell them, for their sake and for His.

Wanting to see my Daddy happy,

Jim Corbett

“I have given you life and I want you to live that life abundantly. I have called you to live it passionately as Jesus did, not with minimal enthusiasm for it or mild involvement in My ways. Your days are full of choices; your years are numbered according to My will. You are on a tailor-made and very personal adventure planned by Me.

"Most of you miss the joy of your journey. You see challenges as threats rather than opportunities for Us to strategize together. You long for the highs and miss the wonder of learning to trust in Me when in the valley. You hope rather than know that My Word is true. You settle for morsels of what I have available. You struggle to maintain control, when absolute surrender to Me and My plans would bring you freedom. Your days are dull and mundane, rather than full of the exuberant life that Jesus lived. He understood how much His life and your life in Him meant to Me. He shared My desires rather than inventing His own to maintain His safety.

"I want you to shake off all of the foolish reasons you have for not becoming deeply involved in My plan for you, no matter what the cost might be to you. I want you to begin to live wondrously, full of the heart of My Holy Spirit. Stop settling for less than I have for you.”

 Hos. 2:14-15a AMP 

14) Therefore, behold, I will allure her [Israel] and bring her into the wilderness, and I will speak tenderly and to her heart.

15) There I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor [troubling] to be for her a door of hope and expectation…

Rev. 3:19 AMP

Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten [I discipline and instruct them]. So be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent [changing your mind and attitude].

 

Somehow we have believed the lie that things such as comfort, the world’s definition of success, and a life without challenges and heartaches are more important than an intimate relationship with our Lord. We seek the visible comforts rather than understanding that whatever causes us to need Him, to come to Him, to wait for Him or to rest in Him alone are what give us true wealth and an abundant life. We miss how God is working to fulfill our days and pattern our lives after the abundant life of Jesus when we look only for the mountain tops, ignoring the opportunities for growth and intimacy in the valleys. We miss the joy of the journey while waiting for the comforts of our flesh.

Let me find Your abundant life in every aspect of my days, Lord,

Jim Corbett